Making it in B.C.: Vancouver designers fashion their careers and their clothes in their own backyard

Vancouver designers who are fashioning their careers and their clothes right in their own backyard.

Photograph by: Submitted Photos
, PNG

Today we profile the designers behind three Vancouver brands -- Adhesif, dace and Malene Grotrian Designs -- that feature clothes created in B.C. from sketch pad to sewing machine. They are Melissa Ferreira, whose Adhesif are all handmade locally and known for vintage-inspired style; Dace Moore of dace, whose simple, sophisticated clothes are manufactured in Vancouver from high-quality fabrics sourced from Italy, Japan and France; and Malene Grotrian, who aims to create timeless, versatile clothing that women can wear "from the boardroom to the ballroom."

The Vancouver fashion designer can be found working six days a week at her shop on Main Street. And on the only day of the week when the shop closes — Mondays — she’s out scouring thrift stores for fabric.

In other words, she never takes a day off.

“I think you have to be borderline obsessed,” Ferreira says of anyone who tries to make a living as a fashion designer in Vancouver.

Especially if your clothes are all handmade locally, as is the case with Ferreira’s line, Adhesif.

Ferreira started Adhesif, known for its vintage-inspired style, around 2003. The line fuses a modern, playful aesthetic with a nostalgic subtext.

The local nature of her clothing line— from design to production — is not accidental.

Starting with recycled garments and fabrics (some of which are new, such as unused bolts of cloth) found in local thrift stores, Ferreira deconstructs them to create one-of-a-kind garments. The creation process is incredibly laborious, she says.

“Everything has to be washed, dried and it has to be deconstructed before you can even use the fabric for creating new pieces,” she says.

While there are others who refashion thrift-store clothing into new designs, Ferreira was one of the first in Vancouver to do so. She started doing it on the side while working as a vintage-clothing buyer, then dove headfirst into self-employment when she was laid off in 2003.

Vintage style comes easily to her. The day we met, she was wearing a black-and-white Adhesif skirt, red cardie (her favourite colour), vintage red scarf tied as a headband and bright red lipstick. Jazz was tinkling in the background as she made tea in her homey studio.

The self-taught designer learned to sew from her mother, who worked in the garment industry in Montreal.

“I got hired as a vintage-clothing buyer [out of high school] and did that for a number of years. That got me started learning about things from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s and just really admiring the cuts and quality. It just made my love of vintage grow like wildflower,” says Ferreira.

She has a small team of contract sewers who make the clothing. The team includes her mother, whom she describes as her “captain.”

For spring, Ferreira is especially excited about flirty rompers that can take you into fall when donned with tights. Coming up in the fall, she’ll be introducing menswear.

The interns who regularly come in and work with Ferreira often ask her how she built her business. For Ferreira, the answer is an unyielding passion for the work. And if you have to take a part-time job while you’re doing it to pay the bills (as she did), then that’s OK, too.

“You have to figure out what it means to you, and if it means the world to you, then make it your world,” she says.

Of all the fashion designers in Vancouver, Dace Moore has arguably one of the highest profiles. With 10 years behind her, she’s built up a name for herself and her brand – dace — in this city and well beyond.

Yet when asked if a decade in fashion feels like a milestone, Moore says it feels more like the beginning than anything else.

“The industry’s been so up and down so it’s kind of funny because I’m coming back to the beginning but knowing a lot more,” she says.

Fashion is a fickle business and Moore knows that better than most. She achieved success in the U.S. early on— dace was carried in department stores such as Fred Segal — but the economic crash in late 2008 suddenly threatened to upend her business.

“We used to do 60 per cent business in the United States, and after the economy crashed, things changed. A lot of the stores we sold to closed down. So it was like starting from scratch with the U.S. market,” she says.

Orders were cancelled and Moore was suddenly faced with overstock. Luckily, she was getting her online shop started and managed to sell the stock through her web shop.

Known for her simple, sophisticated clothes, Moore designs each collection herself and still sews many of the samples. She uses high quality fabrics sourced from Japan, Italy and France, and the entire line is manufactured in Vancouver. Dace is sold locally at independent boutiques such as Eugene Choo and The Block.

“I never had the desire to do offshore production. That’s why things are as much as they are because they’re produced locally,” says Moore.

“I don’t think I’d like my job as much if I produced overseas because it’d just be drawing on a computer and sending stuff over whereas here, locally, I get to work on my samples and I get to make changes as I go. It’s a little bit more of a creative process than sending drawings to China.”

Growing up in the Okanagan in a family of four siblings, Moore honed her eye for quality clothing early on. When she was a teen, her mother would give her and her siblings $100 each to buy back-to-school clothes.

“I would go and buy two pieces with the money and they’d be expensive, and my sister would buy 10 pieces,” she says with a laugh.

Recently, Moore opened a new studio on East Hasting with a large window that allows passersby to peer into her workspace and get a look at the creative process. The studio, which also functions as a storefront to shoppers by appointment, also carries a limited number of handmade children’s clothing sewn by Moore.

It’s part of the ongoing evolution of dace.

“I never wake up and go, ‘Oh God, I gotta to go to work.’ I actually really enjoy coming, and it’s been 11 years, so that tells me I must like it!” she says.

When Danish designer Malene Grotrian first landed in Vancouver in 2006, she quickly knew a pleasant surprise awaited her.

“The air stewardess was saying, ‘If you’re visiting Vancouver, welcome to Vancouver. If you’re flying home, good for you,’” says Grotrian. “I remember that moment well because I thought, ‘I think I’m about to enter something really awesome.’”

Since she was a little girl in Denmark, Grotrian dreamt of becoming a fashion designer and owning her own business.

After studying fashion, she came to Canada to work with a well-known tailor in Ottawa. Vancouver became her next stop when the only contact she had here was looking to hire at the same time she was looking to gain new work experience.

But after two years of working with Vancouver’s Blushing Designs, that long-held dream prompted her to venture out on her own.

“For me, that was absolutely the big fear. And what I decided was it was worth it. This is my passion. Even if I am to go into debt for a large portion of my life, I’m willing to accept that risk,” she says.

Grotrian’s goal is to create timeless, versatile clothing that can take women from the “boardroom to the ballroom.” Many of her clients are professional women such as realtors, lawyers and corporate executives.

“If you’re in a boardroom . . . how you look and speak has a lot to do with your success level because it’s your brand. Women are aware this is a tool: I need to feel confident, I need to feel beautiful, I need to feel like me to do my best,” she says.

At her Gastown studio, Grotrian first started selling to clients through word-of-mouth, mostly through referrals from a business-networking chapter she joined.

She was also invited to show at New York Fashion Week in September 2009, which helped raise her profile.

The statuesque designer says she favours styles that show off an hourglass silhouette.

Working with a team of contract sewers in Vancouver, she produces a ready-to-wear line as well as custom designs. The clothing almost always serves a dual purpose. A “butterfly” top can be draped to add sleeves or be worn as a halter. A strapless dress is given Grecian-style draping when a “windcatcher scarf” (one of her bestsellers) is added on top.

In keeping with her philosophy of building meaningful relationships, she also donates her time and clothing to charities. She dressed women for the Ovarian Cancer Gala two years ago, for example.

Her favourite part of the job is making women feel confident and beautiful.

“It’s still just a piece of clothing so where the magic happens is how it makes you feel. And when you feel like you, you are magic. You can be your best, you can do your best, you have more to offer,” she says.

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I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.